Revision as of 09:31, 25 August 2013

Information is actual for version 0.12.2

Since version 0.10.3, Stellarium's packages include a number of plug-ins: Angle Measure, Compass Marks, Oculars, Telescope Control, Text User Interface, Satellites, Solar System Editor, Time Zone, Historical Supernovae, Quasars, Pulsars, Exoplanets and Observability analysis. All these plug-ins are "built-in" in the standard Stellarium distribution and DON'T need to be downloaded separately.

Enabling plugins

Open the Configuration dialog (press F2 or use the left tool bar button)

Select the Plugins tab

Select the plugin you want to enable from the list

Check the Load at startup option

Restart Stellarium

If the plugin has configuration options, the configuration button will be enabled when the plugin is loaded and clicking it will open the plugin's configuration window.

Data for plugins

Some plugins contain files with different data, e.g. catalogs. JSON is a typical format for those files and you can edit it's manually. Of course, each plugin has specific format of data for the own catalogs and you should read documentation for plugin before editing of it catalog.

You can read some common instructions for editing catalogs of plugins below. In this example we use catalog.json file for identification of catalog for typical plugin.

You can modify the catalog.json files manually using a text editor. If you are using Windows, it is strongly recommended to use an advanced text editor such as Notepad++ to avoid problems with end-of-line characters. (It will also color the JSON code and make it easier to read.)

Warning: Before editing your catalog.json file, make a backup copy. Leaving out the smallest detail (such as a comma or forgetting to close a curly bracket) will prevent Stellarium from starting.

The path to the directory which contains catalog.json file is something like:

(Note that this is a hidden folder, so in order to find it you may need to change your computer's settings to display hidden files and folders.)

How you can help

We are welcome bug reports, feature requests and feedback through the usual channels (trackers, forums and so on).

Angle Measure Plugin

The Angle Measure plugin is a small tool which is used to measure the angular distance between two points on the sky. *goes misty eyed* I recall measuring the size of the Cassini Division when I was a student. It was not the high academic glamor one might expect... It was cloudy... It was rainy... The observatory lab had some old scopes set up at one end, pointing at a photograph of Saturn at the other end of the lab. We measured. We calculated. We wished we were in Hawaii. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Using plugin

Enable the tool by clicking the tool-bar button, or by pressing control-A. A message will appear at the bottom of the screen to tell you that the tool is active.

Drag a line from the first point to the second point using the left mouse button

To clear the measurement, click the right mouse button

To deactivate the angle measure tool, press the tool-bar button again, or press control-A on the keyboard.

Plugin's home page

Compass Marks Plugin

Stellarium helps the user get their bearings using the cardinal point feature - the North, South, East and West markers on the horizon. Compass Marks takes this idea and extends it to add markings every few degrees along the horizon, and includes compass bearing values in degrees.

Using plugin

There is a tool bar button for toggling the compass markings, or you can press control-C.

Note that when you first enable compass marks, the cardinal points will be turned off. You can have both active at once, but there is a small bug which means you have to press Qtwo times to re-enable cardinal points after enabling the compass markings.

Plugin's home page

Text User Interface Plugin

Older versions of Stellarium used to have a little menu system which was controlled by the cursor keys. This was used primarily by planetarium system operators to change settings, run scripts and so on. In the 0.10.x series, this function vanished as we totally re-designed the user interface. This plugin re-implements the "TUI", as it was known. Full list of the commands for the TUI plugin you can read in the section TUI Commands.

Using plugin

Activate the text menu using the m key

Navigate the menu using the cursors keys.

To edit a value, press the right cursor until the value you wish to change it highlighted with > and < marks, e.g. >3.142<. Then press the up and down cursors to change the value. You may also type in a new value with the other keys on the keyboard.

Plugin's home page

Oculars Plugin

Oculars. This places a window on the screen that corresponds to the view through a telescope or on a camera. It reads from an editable data base.

When this plug in is active a window will appear around the selected object depicting what would be seen by the viewing object. On the top right hand side of the screen a menu will appear that can be used to select the viewing device eg. Camera, Eyepiece. This menu is filled with items from the ocular.ini file in the modules\oculars folder. his file can be edited from the Plugins menu screen or by a text editor.

Telescope Control Plugin

Telescope Control. Stellarium has a simple control mechanism for motorised telescope mounts. The user selects an object (i.e. by clicking on something - a planet, a star etc.) and presses the telescope go-to key (see section []) and the telescope will be guided to the object.

Multiple telescopes may be controlled simultaneously.

The control interface uses the Meade or the Celestron protocol and most telescopes use either one or the other so many different brands of telescopes can be controlled. There is a third party Telescope control system going under the name of ASCOM. They provide an interface to stellarium and then translate the control into many other forms

Multiple telescopes may be controlled simultaneously.

WARNING: Stellarium will not prevent your telescope from being pointed at the Sun. It is up to you to ensure proper filtering and safety measures are applied!

Satellites Plugin

Satellites. This displays a number of earth orbiting satellies. automatically updated every 72 hours from the internet.

This plug in reads information on a selected range of near earth orbiting satellites from a file satellites.json that is updated every 72 hours and displays
with a name. The file is editable with a text editor to change the colour and visibility when required.

Solar System Editor Plugin

Time Zone Plugin

TimeZoneConfiguration. Used to manipulate the time zone of the display.

Plugin's home page

Pulsars Plugin

This plugin plots the position of various pulsars, with object information about each one. Pulsar data is derived from Catalog of Pulsars (Taylor+ 1995) for 0.1.x series and derived from The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue (Manchester, R. N., Hobbs, G. B., Teoh, A. & Hobbs, M., Astron. J., 129, 1993-2006 (2005) (astro-ph/0412641)) for series 0.2.x.

Plugin's home page

Observability Analysis Plugin

Reports an analysis of source observability (rise, set, and transit times), as well as the epochs of year when the source is best observed. It assumes that a source is observable if it is above the horizon during a fraction of the night. The plugin also gives the day for largest separation from the Sun and the days of Acronychal and Cosmical rise/set.